Pokemon Showdown FAQ

 Pokemon Showdown FAQ

Q: What is Showdown?
A: It's a battle simulator for Pokemon. So basically doing competitive battles without the boring animations/breeding.

Q: Oh cool, what tiers do you play?
A: I try just about everything. So far right now though, in ORAS, nothing takes my fancy at all. As such, I do Random Battles almost exclusively.

Q: What are Random Battles?
A: In Random Battles, your whole team of 6 is randomised (But not fully evolved pokemon that are not used will not show up, e.g. can get Porygon2, can't get Metapod). Their moves/items are too, but only to the point that they stay in line moves used in competitive battles in the tiers they reside.
For example, you won't find a Whiscash with Tackle, but you might find one without Waterfall (say d-dance, eq, stone edge, zen headbutt)
Items also align with the moves so they make sense, if you get a Normal Gem Hitmonlee it will have a Normal move (Fake Out) to use it with.
Levels are scaled based on how "good" the pokemon is in competitive battles (ie it's tier, and how good it is in that tier). The levels range from 71 (Mega Rayquaza) to 83 (everything that is complete shit)
One last thing, that I really like about the tier: There is no Team Preview, so there is always an element of doubt.

Q: How good are you / what is your rating?
A: I never really consider myself "good" at comp battling cause I don't take it that seriously. I've laddered to the top of Gen 4 UU back in 2010, top of VGC 2014, and got 2 points off top of Random Battles this gen, so I suppose results wise that's something. I do enjoy laddering, but have no interest in actually getting involved to be "good"
Here's a pastebin tracking my on stream progress for ratings: http://pastebin.com/9zpt42J1

Q: Would you ever take competitive battling seriously?
A: No, two reasons. 1) The community is utter fucking shit. Can't stand the mentality of them at all, so I just stay away from shit like that. 2) I enjoy being a total bitch way too much.